Meeting of the Parliament 03 October 2017
It is important to remind members, particularly the Tories, that today we are discussing human beings and their situation; we are discussing not statistics, but real people.
I find it absolutely abhorrent that those who are most in need are being penalised by a system that should provide for them. I whole-heartedly agree with the call for the universal credit roll-out to be stopped immediately, and I reiterate the concerns of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, which every speaker has mentioned and which highlighted the fundamental flaws of universal credit.
Universal credit has been a shambles since its inception and the report that was produced by Citizens Advice Scotland laid bare a system that is not fit for purpose. The evidence is damning. The system is actively pushing people into crisis through the six-week wait for payment, and knock-on effects such as rent arrears affect not just those people, but housing associations, which cannot invest in other residents as a result.
It really is a two-pronged situation for everyone, but it is the people who are suffering. They are unable to buy food or pay bills such as gas or electricity. What kind of society are we living in if that is what we are putting people through?
A Glasgow CAB reported that a client with long-term depression who was in receipt of universal credit was having £95 recovered from their payments to pay back a hardship loan, as well as £31 for rent arrears, leaving them £190 a month to live on. The CAB contacted the DWP to renegotiate the repayments for the hardship loan, but it was told that the arrangement was non-negotiable.
I would like to give another couple of examples of the advance payments that are so lauded in the Tory amendment and by Adam Tomkins, who moved it. Let us look at the so-called five-day period, or whatever it is. It is not money that is being given in kindness. It is a loan. We keep saying that it is a loan. What kind of society or Government gives a loan to somebody who desperately needs the money and might have to become homeless if they do not get it? They have to pay it back, and loan repayments are automatically deducted from their universal credit payment, until the total amount is paid back. A claimant must also provide a breakdown of what the advance is for and how it will prevent damage to health and safety, and there can be only one advance per person.
I can hear Jeremy Balfour talking in the background, but he ought to be aware that claimants can be refused a payment if they do not face serious hardship, if they are close to receiving another payment, or if they cannot afford to repay the loan. I say once again that it is a loan. It is not money that is being given out of the goodness of the Government’s heart.
The evidence that we gathered from CAB offices across the country is that the system is designed to exclude the most vulnerable. Although the DWP wants to have a totally digital service, only a quarter of those consulted would be confident in using that kind of service, as is highlighted in the amendment moved by Alex Rowley on behalf of the Labour Party. By implementing that process for accessing support, the Government is marginalising a huge number of claimants. Not everybody has the technology or the experience of computers to be able to access the system.
Another case from a Glasgow CAB is a prime example of the inadequacies of the digitally driven system. A client who had tried to make a claim for universal credit admitted that they had struggled to meet the online obligations expected of claimants due to not really knowing what they were doing. The outcome was that the client was without any income for 10 months, just because he could not access the system as he did not know how to use the technology. That claimant was staying with family, but felt uncomfortable because he could not contribute financially.
The administration of the system has been attacked, and rightly so—I refer to the case that I have just outlined. Members will not be surprised to hear that there are many more such cases. A Glasgow CAB reported one case of a client providing all the information required for the claim, but due to the DWP not processing all that information they had to wait a further two weeks before the claim was processed. That is not an isolated incident. Such cases come through time and time again, and the Social Security Committee has heard evidence about the problem on our visits outwith the Parliament.
It is little wonder that people are calling for a halt to the system. We are not saying that the previous system was perfect, because it was not. What everyone except the Tories is saying is that universal credit is punishing people. People are suffering greatly and we need to halt the roll-out. I ask the Tories—although I expect that this will fall on deaf ears—to support the motion tonight, because people are really suffering. They are human beings. The system is a disgrace, and I fully support the recommendation from the third sector and others that the roll-out cannot go ahead until the serious flaws in it, which all speakers have highlighted, are rectified.
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